Tuesday, August 5, 2008

At a Pittsburgh City Council meeting today, city legislators approved the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan, designated the Salvation Army building (formerly the Malta Temple) a historic structure, and one council member shared his request that the Stadium Authority delay a final decision on several land parcel development deals until a public hearing is held.

The Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan, a measure sponsored by Councilman Bill Peduto, passed with a unanimous 9-0 vote. The Action Plan offers guidelines that the city can use to cut its carbon footprint by 20 percent. Peduto says the next step will be codification of the guidelines so that they are reflected in city code. He hopes this can be done by December.

The Salvation Army building was designated a historical structure. After being the center of an hours-long debate at last weeks legislative meeting. The measure passed without discussion with an 8-1 vote. Councilman Revered Ricky Burgess was the only dissenting member.

Finally, at the conclusion of the meeting during open forum, Doug Shields unveiled his plan to lobby the Stadium Authority to delay their decision on several North Shore land Development deals involving the firm Continental Development. Shields says that he would like to hold a public hearing on the deals prior to a final decision being made. He says that since the deal will greatly effect the public, their interests and concerns should be heard on the matter. Continental Development had an options agreement with the Stadium Authority but failed to act on it and it has since expired. The parties are currently negotiating a way to extend the expired contract to the dismay of several council members and the grassroots group Northside United.